This blog features my weekly column called "What's up in the sky". It is published every Saturday in the Ellensburg newspaper, Daily Record (http://www.kvnews.com/). While my postings will be most accurate for Central Washington, readers throughout the northern USA may find something of use.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Saturday: Some
people in town today for the Yakima River Canyon Marathon may be looking for a
little running inspiration. While nothing can take the place of a 20+ mile long
run for marathon preparation (I know), certain objects in the night sky are
inspiring. In the Bible, Job specifically mentions the star Arcturus, or the
bear keeper, to his friend as a sign of God's majesty. He describes God as that
"Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers
(constellations) of the south" (Job 9:9, King James Version). Whatever
your religious beliefs, it is clear that Job was impressed with this very
bright star. See the star that inspired Job about two and a half fists held
upright and at arm’s length above the east horizon at 10 p.m.

Sunday: If
you ran far yesterday, you don’t want to stay up late looking at the stars. So
do something during the day that will help you and other night sky enthusiasts:
make sure your outdoor light fixtures are shielded or at least facing down.
This will cut down on light pollution, stray light that obscures the stars, and
give you a head start in celebrating International Dark Sky week, which occurs in
mid-April. Go to http://goo.gl/w6Hi7 for more
information on how to do an outdoor lighting audit and get more information
about International Dark Sky week. You won’t need to have dark skies to see
Jupiter less than a fist to the upper left of the moon at 9 p.m.

Monday: Mars
is one fist and Venus is two and a half fists above the west horizon at 8 p.m.

Tuesday: The Space Shuttles have been retired. But NASA is still making
plans about the future of space flight. Here is a small NASA poster summarizing
the future of American Human spaceflight: http://goo.gl/D8KWj.
It is interesting to compare the sizes of these real spaceships to the dozens
of fictional spacecraft summarized on a poster found at http://goo.gl/F95aEL.

Wednesday:
After a long journey through space, there is nothing will quench your
thirst better than a few drops of refreshing Mars water. Wait! Is this an April
Fool’s Day joke? No. In 2010, after analyzing photos taken by the Mars Phoenix
Lander, a group of astronomers discovered what they interpreted as drops of
very salty liquid water on one of the Lander’s legs. But we are not going to
travel 18 months to Mars just to lick a few drops of water off a metal leg. We
want waterfront property if we are going all that way. The high-resolution
camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken images of dark rivulets
that form, grow, and fade in the Martian southern hemisphere. Even though Mars
is very cold, this liquid could contain enough salt to lower its freezing point
by more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit, enough to remain liquid.

Newsflash! Earlier this year, Astronomers found evidence that Mars may have
had an ocean of water that has since been lost. Maybe it’s too late for that
waterfront property after all. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_on_Mars
for an overview of the history of, you guessed it, water on Mars. Mars is one fist
above the west horizon at 8 p.m.

Thursday: Saturn
is two fists above the south-southwest horizon at 6 a.m.

Friday: You’ve
seen all of the top 100 lists: top 100 ways to please your mate, top 100
restaurants in the local region, etc. Now get excited for the lunar 100 at http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/the-lunar-100/.
This
list describes 100 interesting landmarks on the moon that are visible from
Earth. They are listed from easiest to see, starting with the entire moon
itself at number 1, to most difficult (Mare Marginis swirls, anyone?). Stay up all
night to binge watch the moon or just make a few observations a month. It’s
your decision. It’s our moon.

The positional
information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for
the entire week. For up to date information about the night sky, go to http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Saturday: Mars
is about two finger widths to the right of the moon at 8 p.m.

Sunday: April
is Global Astronomy Month (GAM). While many astronomy experiences come from
looking up, you can also experience astronomy looking down… at pen and paper.
GAM has launched an Astropoetry blog and is looking for contributors, hopefully
ones that are better than mine above. Even if you’ve never written a poem
before, this is your opportunity to express your love for astronomy in a unique
way and possibly share it with others. Go to http://goo.gl/SeOd4rfor more poetry. The moon is expressing
its love for Venus by moving upward in the early evening sky. At 8 p.m., Venus
is about two finger widths to the right of the moon.

Monday: The
Milky Way is pretty easy to spot on the early spring sky. Just look up.
Everything you see in the sky, including that bird that just startled you, is
in the Milky Way. But, even the path of densely packed stars in the plane of
our galaxy that look like a river of milk is easy to find. Look due south at 9
p.m. Follow the fuzzy path just to the left of the bright star Sirius two fists
held upright and at arm’s length above the horizon, to the right of the bright
star Procyon four and a half fists above the southwest horizon, through Capella
five fists above the west horizon, through W-shaped Cassiopeia, and down to due
north.

Tuesday: Jupiter
is six fists above due south at 10 p.m.

Wednesday: Orion is getting lower and lower in the
nighttime sky. Its second brightest star, Betelgeuse, is only two fists above
the west-southwest horizon at 11 p.m.

Thursday:
If you want to put somebody off, tell her or him to wait until Deneb sets. At
Ellensburg’s latitude of 47 degrees, Deneb is a circumpolar star meaning it
never goes below the horizon. At 10:18 tonight, it will be as close as it gets
to the horizon, about two degrees above due north. Watch it reach this due
north position about 4 minutes earlier each night.

Friday: You
need to get up early tomorrow to cheer on your favorite runners at the Yakima
River Canyon Marathon starting at 8 a.m. on Canyon Road just south of Berry
Road. So why not get a little viewing in? Saturn is two fists above the south-southwest
horizon at 6 a.m. The bright star Antares is a half a fist to the lower left of
Saturn.

The
positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically
accurate for the entire week. For up to date information about the night sky,
go to http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Saturday: Has
there ever been life on Mars? Astronomers don’t know. But the Mars Curiosity
Rover has been digging up some strong evidence that Mars was hospitable to life
in the past. At the end of 2012, the first drilling assignment for Curiosity found
clay-like minerals that form in the presence of water. In December 2013,
scientists announced the strongest evidence yet for an ancient fresh-water lake
in Gale Crater. Planetary geologist John Grotzinger said that Earth microbes
could have thrived in this lake if they were placed there. Earlier this month,
astronomers at the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in
Chile found evidence that Mars was once had an ocean that held more water than
the Arctic Ocean and covered a greater percentage of Mars’ surface than the
Atlantic Ocean does on Earth. In brief, they came to this conclusion after
analyzing the chemical signature of light that passes through the Martian
atmosphere. For more information about this ancient ocean and the method of
discovery, go to http://goo.gl/bOqD4U.
Mars is about one fist held upright and at arm’s length above the west horizon
at 8 p.m., about a fist below the bright planet Venus. By the way, the name of
the observatory in Chile really is Very Large Telescope. See for yourself at http://www.eso.org/paranal.

Sunday: Jupiter
is five and a half fists above the southeast horizon at 9 p.m.

Monday: Vega
is a half a fist above the northeast horizon at 11 p.m.

Tuesday: Astronomers
are often fascinated with large objects. Planets that could fit 1000 Earths
(Jupiter). Stars that would fill up the entire inner Solar System (Betelgeuse).
Galaxies with 400 billion stars (Milky Way). But what about the smallest
objects? One of the smallest stars is Proxima Centauri, the closest known star
other than our Sun. It is about 12% of the mass of the Sun. The smallest theoretically
possible star would be about 7.5% of the mass of the Sun. Any smaller and it
could not support fusion reactions. For more on small stars, go to http://goo.gl/EHBdOX.

Wednesday:
Ask someone which day in March has the same duration day and night. Go ahead,
ask someone. Why are you still reading this? I can wait. If that person said
the first day of spring, they are wrong. Today, three days before the first day
of spring, is the date in which day and night are closest in duration. There
are two main reasons for this. First, the atmosphere acts like a lens, bending
light from the Sun above the horizon when the Sun is actually below the
horizon. This makes the Sun appear to rise before it actually rises and appear
to set after is actually sets. Second, spring starts when the center of the Sun
passes through the point called the vernal equinox. But, the Sun is not a
point. The upper edge of the Sun rises about a minute before the center of the
Sun and the lower edge sets a minute after the center of the Sun. Thus, even if
we didn’t have an atmosphere that bends the sunlight, daytime on the first day
of spring would still be longer than 12 hours.

Thursday: Saturn
is about two and a half fists above the southern horizon at 6 a.m.

Friday: Look
up in the sky. It’s a plane. It’s a bird. No, it’s the vernal equinox. The
vernal equinox!? Spring starts at 3:45 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time. The first
day of spring is often called the vernal equinox. This label for the day is
misleading. The vernal equinox is actually the point in the sky where the Sun’s
apparent path with respect to the background stars (called the ecliptic)
crosses the line that divides the stars into north and south (called the celestial
equator). This point is in the constellation Pisces the fishes. At the vernal
equinox, the Sun is moving from the southern region of background stars to the
northern region. Since the Sun crosses the vernal equinox at night, tomorrow
will actually be the first full day of spring.

Because
the Earth slowly wobbles like a spinning top, the vernal equinox is slowly
moving into the constellation Aquarius. By the year 2597, the vernal equinox
will reach the constellation Aquarius and the “Age of Aquarius” will begin.
Until then, we’ll be in “the age of Pisces”.

Those of
you lucky enough to be sailing in the North Atlantic or Arctic Oceans this
morning will witness a total solar eclipse. Just east of Iceland, the eclipse
happens at about 9:45 a.m. Europe and North Africa will see varying degrees of
a partial solar eclipse.

The
positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically
accurate for the entire week. For up to date information about the night sky,
go to http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Saturday:
Don't forget to set you clocks ahead one hour tonight for the annual ritual
called daylight savings. Daylight savings originated in the United States
during World War I to save energy for the war effort. But a recent study by two
economists shows that switching to daylight savings time may actually lead to
higher utility bills. When the economists compared the previous few years of
energy bills in the section of Indiana that just started observing daylight
savings, they discovered that switching to daylight savings cost Indiana
utility customers $8.6 million in electricity. In an even more important
consequence of daylight savings, Stanley Coren of the University of British Columbia
discovered a 7% jump in traffic accidents on the Monday after we "spring
ahead". Blame it on the lost hour of sleep. And, sky watchers will lose
even more sleep because the sky stays light for an additional hour.

Sunday: It’s
getting dark. The last remnant of twilight has disappeared. Suddenly, you
notice a large softly radiant pyramid of light in the western sky. The base of
this ghostly triangle is along the west horizon and the peak stretches two or
three fists above the horizon. It is not really a ghost. It is an effect called
the zodiacal light. This light comes from sunlight reflecting off dust grains
in our solar system. The effect is the most visible when the band of
constellations called the zodiac makes a steep angle with the horizon. You need
a clear dark sky with no haze or light pollution to see the zodiacal light. At
its brightest, the zodiacal light rivals the light of the central Milky Way.
Look for the ghostly patch after twilight for the next few weeks.

Monday: Jupiter
is five fists held upright and at arm’s length above the southeast horizon at 9
p.m.

Tuesday: It
is often said that Earth is a water world because about 70% of the Earth’s
surface is covered by water. What would it look like if all that water on the
surface were gathered up into a ball? That “ball” would be about 700 km in
diameter, less than half the diameter of the Moon. The Astronomy Picture of the
day shows us right here http://goo.gl/4wXLM

Wednesday:
The group AC/DC sings that “Rock ‘n’ roll ain’t noise pollution, rock ‘n’ roll
ain’t gonna die.” Unfortunately, because of excess and improper outdoor
lighting in cities, even those as small as Ellensburg, our view of the night
sky is gonna die. Lights that are aimed upward illuminate the atmosphere and
obscure dim objects. To watch an informative and entertaining video about the
effects of light pollution, go to http://goo.gl/R1AoCz. To watch
ACV/DC sing “Rock ‘n’ Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution, go to http://goo.gl/dZJ8my. To watch
a night sky object that is not affected by light pollution, look at Venus, two
fists above the west horizon at 8 p.m. Mars is a slightly more challenging
find, one fist above the west horizon. If you have binoculars, you can easily
spot Uranus. First find Mars. Uranus is just below Mars.

Thursday: Saturn
is a half a fist to the lower right of the moon at 6 a.m.

Friday: Did
you know that a statistical analysis can tell us that Friday the 13th is not a
lucky day? “Beating the odds” is one definition of luck. Because of the pattern
of the Gregorian calendar, Friday is the most common day of the week to be the
13th day of the month. Thus, when you encounter a Friday the 13th, you are not
beating the odds because Friday is the most likely 13th day of the month. The
least likely day? A tie between Thursday and Saturday.

The
positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically
accurate for the entire week. For up to date information about the night sky,
go to http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.